Virtual controller for visual displays
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- detecting an image of one or more hands against a substantially stationary background via a camera;
segmenting the image into hand areas and background areas;
at intervals, counting a number of independent areas of the background, wherein each part of the background that is visually independent from other parts of the background is defined as an independent area, each of the independent areas being visually separated from the other parts of the background by at least a part of the hand areas;
associating a control parameter for manipulating a displayed image on a user interface with a centroid of each counted independent area; and
changing the displayed image via the control parameter in relation to each change in a shape and/or a position of the independent area associated with the control parameter.
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Abstract
Virtual controllers for visual displays are described. In one implementation, a camera captures an image of hands against a background. The image is segmented into hand areas and background areas. Various hand and finger gestures isolate parts of the background into independent areas, which are then assigned control parameters for manipulating the visual display. Multiple control parameters can be associated with attributes of multiple independent areas formed by two hands, for advanced control including simultaneous functions of clicking, selecting, executing, horizontal movement, vertical movement, scrolling, dragging, rotational movement, zooming, maximizing, minimizing, executing file functions, and executing menu choices.
67 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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detecting an image of one or more hands against a substantially stationary background via a camera; segmenting the image into hand areas and background areas; at intervals, counting a number of independent areas of the background, wherein each part of the background that is visually independent from other parts of the background is defined as an independent area, each of the independent areas being visually separated from the other parts of the background by at least a part of the hand areas; associating a control parameter for manipulating a displayed image on a user interface with a centroid of each counted independent area; and changing the displayed image via the control parameter in relation to each change in a shape and/or a position of the independent area associated with the control parameter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system, comprising:
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an image sensor to detect an image including one or more hands against a substantially stationary background; an image separator to segment the image into one or more hand areas and the background; a calculation module to count, at intervals, a number of independent areas of the background, wherein each part of the background that is visually independent from other parts of the background is defined as an independent area, each of the independent areas being visually separated from the other parts of the background by at least a part of the hand areas; a linking module to associate a control parameter for manipulating a displayed image on a user interface with a centroid of each counted independent area; and wherein each change in a shape and/or a position of the independent area associated with the control parameter modifies the displayed image via the control parameter. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system for changing a displayed image on a user interface via a control parameter assigned to a movement of a hand, the system comprising:
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means for detecting an image of one or more hands against a substantially stationary background; means for segmenting the image into one or more hand areas and the background; means for counting, at fixed intervals, a number of independent areas of the background, wherein each part of the background that is visually independent from other parts of the background, and visually separated by at least a part of a hand area from the other parts of the background, is defined as an independent area; means for associating a control parameter for manipulating a displayed image on a user interface with a centroid of each counted independent area and changing the displayed image via the control parameter in relation to each change in a shape and/or a position of the independent area associated with the control parameter.
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Specification